Case 1: Fire(d)?

[Doreen]

Back at the lab, Doreen began processing some of the evidence she found at the crime scene with Sean. Various items lay on the table. They checked the wallet; taking everything apart. They found a photograpg of Jake Combs with his some people. Must be his family.

"Poor lady," said Doreen, looking at the photograph. "She has no idea that her husband's dead, huh?" she said to Sean.

[Fabian]

Luke was in the morgue, where Dr. Hawkes had just explained to him what happened to the victims.

Susan Granger, Franklin Huthinson, Lisa Drake, Harry Raver, Max Kane and Jessica Franklin all died of affixiation by the smoke or massive burns. Except for Jake Combs, he died of blood force trauma. Either someone hit him on the head, or something fell on his head.

"Excuse me, are you Sue Franklin?", Luke asked the woman in the police department. The woman looked awfully relaxed for a woman that just lost her daughter. "Yes, yes I am."
"My name is Lucas Versteeg from CSI. I am really sorry for your loss m'am." She nodded. "Mrs. Franklin, Jessica was not a member of the Mayflower Highschool. Can you explain to me why she was in that classroom?".
"No...she, Jessica goes to the Decorah Highschool. She wasn't supposed to be there". Mrs. Franklin suddenly had her emotions out of control. "I always try so hard.... but now I lost her. Mr. Versteeg...". "Please, call me Luke". "...Jess had a boyfriend on the Mayflower Highschool, Tim Bradley.". "What do you know about him?" "All I know is that he is bad news. Maybe Jessica was visiting him, I don't know. I don't understand why she was there following lessons." Luke did not know what to say. "Ehm... we will do our very best to find out what happened to your girl, allright?"

Luke Versteeg decided to head to the lab where Doreen, Sean and J.D. were processing evidence, to lend them a hand and hear about their findings.
"Any knews about those heaters or the fire estinguisher?"

[bluebean]

Hawkes looked around at the bodies filling up the morgue. He had just explained what the C.O.D's appeared to be to Versteeg, but he felt like something was wrong. Specifically, Jake Combs.

C.O.D had appeared to be blunt force trauma, and that fact was only supported as Hawkes continued his autopsy. The problem was the weapon.

The wounds and bruises on the man's body had a specific shape, round with a circle or something in the middle. Hawkes had made a mold, it was sitting on a table next to him, and all he had to do was give Versteeg a call to find out what it was.

Hawkes looked from Combs, to Franklin, to Granger, to Huthinson, to Drake, to Raver, to Kane, and back. He couldn't help but be reminded of his days a sugeon and all of the deaths he had almost prevented.

He bagged the mold and paged Versteeg, it was time to find the weapon.

[bobbydee]

Sean took one look at the mould, he knew what it was, he explained to everyone that he had seen the mould before from a case he worked on in, it was the base of a fire extinguiser, but there hadnt been one in the closet it was just canasters and other remnents.

On the crime scene pictures sean noticed that something was missing on the shelf.

Im goin back to the high school he informed, Luke i need to talk to the head teacher to see if we can get an inventory of what the janitor had in his cupboard.

[Fabian]

"Very well, Sean".

Luke established that someone had tampered with the heater. He got paged by Lara McKenzie from Prints. She managed to put the fingerprints together. Luke got a paper from the school and found out from whom the heater belonged to. It was heater # 13, which belonged to (how surprising) table # 13. And which student belonged with that table? Tim Bradley, Jessica's boyfriend... It's time someone would have a talk with him.

Luke was still in the hospital because of some nasty burn marks. Luke and Det. Flack went there.
"Tim Bradley? We have got some questions for ya. Was Jessica Franklin your girlfriend?
"Not really y'know. I liked hanging out with her and all, but.. She was cool."
"Could we maybe take your fingerprints? We'd like to check wether they match with the prints on your heater. The one that most likely burned the school down". Tim quitely agreed. Flack mentioned that Tim wasn't in class that day. Luke said: "But Jessica was. While you were ditching school. Was she covering up or something?"
"I think I want a lawyer".

[Doreen]

Doreen studied the photos of the various evidence found at the crime scene; trying to come up with a solution. So far, nothing has hit her and she was starting to feel very, very frustrated.

[bobbydee]

Mr De Vos, asked sean
Yes replied the head teacher,
would it be possible to get an inventory of what the janitor kept in his closet,
Yes of course, here you go,
Thank you

Sean returned to the lab, and started looking at what was on the list and what was in the pile, the only thing that didnt seem to be there was a petrol canister. We're gonna have to find this.

Sean picked up his phone, he rang luke, "Luke I think we have two seperate fires, one in the janitors closet and one in the class room. And i doubt they were accidents. Im gonna start looking for this gas canidter, might brake the case.

[Doreen]

Doreen went back to the crime scene; desperately trying to find a clue to the cause of death for Jake Combs.

After an hour of searching and coming up with nothing, she gave up and went back to the lab. She examined a piece of evidence and several photos and suddenly it hit her. Taking out her cell phone, she called Luke who was lead in this case.

"I found something," she said excitedly.

[Fabian]

"I found something", Doreen said excitedly.
She explained that she thought she knew where the missing patrol canister is.
Doreen made a picture of it on the school's yard, without realizing it was a patrol canister. This is not very weird, since it just looked like some sort of debris.

Luke, Doreen, Sean and J.D. were all going over the evidence together. Luke said:
"This is my theory. Tim Bradley has some sort of grudge against the school and specifically against the janitor. He convinced his girlfriend Jessica to start a fire in the classroom, as a cover up for the thing that he was doing in the janitor's closet: killing Jake Combs. I have a hunge that fire broke out in the closet, which was not Tim's initial plan, but it did came out handy. We only need to find out why he did it."

[Doreen]

Doreen watched and listened from the outside as Luke, Sean and J.D. interrogated Tim. She was hoping that she could pick up anything that he's saying.

[Fabian]

Luke, J.D. and Det. Flack were in the interrogation room, facing Tim Bradley and his lawyer.
"Tim, we found evidence that you killed Mr. Combs. Your fingerprints were on the patrol canister." Luke was bluffing, because there weren't any usuable prints on it. He might be a little out of line here, but he was confident Tim killed him. "Can you explain that?"
Tim's lawyer, Julia Henderson said: "Tim, you don't have to answer this question, you know that right?". Tim didn't say anything. Det. Flack asked if he had a grudge against Jake Combs.
Suddenly, Tim let some tears slip: "He...he touched me." Was Jake Combs a molester?

[Doreen]

Doreen jaw dropped open. "He's a molester?" she said aloud. She continued to listen to the interrogation.

Tim was really starting to break down. His lawyer patted him on the back with a look of pity on her face while the others exchanged surprised looks.

[bobbydee]

As sean continued to search the scene, he saw something across the room as he walked towards it the floor underneith him gave way, he fell down to the floor below injurying himself quite badly.

[Fabian]

Luke was still in the interrogation room with Tim Bradley. He was totally confused by the way this case was leading. '"This might be unfcomfortable, but could you tell me a bit more about what Mr. Combs did to you?"
"He asked me if I could help him with somethig in that closet. Before I even know it, he locked me in. He was pulling my pants down, dude! I don't know why Jess was in that classroom, okay?! When the fire started, I ran out, got the extinguisher and I used it. ".
Luke asked: "Did you hit him with patrol canister?"
"No man! I don't think so... I feel so bad about what happened to Jessica, much more than what happened to me. So please, get off my back!"

Luke left the interrogation room and closed the door behind him. He began talking to Doreen: "Can you believe this? sexual abuse? I was so sure Tim started all this".
Doreen looked just as confused as Luke was.
Luke's phone rang:"What? Okay, thanks". He hung up.
Doreen asked what was going on.
"It's Sean". Doreen was shocked. "It's okay. He fell through the floor in the janitor's closet, appreantly there's a room underneath there. He's got some nasty cuts and bruises but nothing serious. He's in the hospital, he can't be on the job for the next few days."
He saw that Doreen looked a bit stunned. Luke sighed, gave her a comforting touch on the shoulder and smiled. "Come, let's first check out the crime scene and then we'll go to the hospital right from there".

[Doreen]

"Sure," said Doreen shakily. They packed their kits. Before leaving for the crime scene, Doreen brought a bowl of fruits for Sean.